Question for you guys with more than one project?

[moparstuart]

My Daytona is doing life without the possibilty of parol in body shop prison.

The rest of the herd could be sold or crushed at any moment without warning.

Getting real close to just being done with this shit.

i will be right over

[440]

Working on my cousin's 1973 Type LT Camaro until he ran out of a job...Stopped began to work back on my 1970 Challenger R/T clone, which I'm currently working on. As I type this, it's 9:00 PM and I've been at the shop since about 7:00 this morning. Been doing this most of my life. Sure it gets harder and harder to do, but If I want it, I've come to realize that This is life with restoring old cars. Years ago when one could buy one of these 15-20 years old and all it needed was the fun sh*t done to it, yeah, it's fun, but not anymore. The same cars i bought 20 years ago are Rust bucket junk today and require alot of time and patience.

Throw in my Son's 1966 plymouth which is running, but needs interior and paint to be "finished" and I'm rolling three.

That further enhances our point, you do this full time and you have 3 on the go. Granted you have customers cars that probably consume most of your time. What would you do if you were the average Joe who works an average 9-5 job ?

[Daytona R/T SE]

My Daytona is doing life without the possibilty of parole in body shop prison.

The rest of the herd could be sold or crushed at any moment without warning.

Getting real close to just being done with this shit.

i will be right over

Bring a buttload of cash, Stewie.

[moparstuart]

My Daytona is doing life without the possibilty of parole in body shop prison.

The rest of the herd could be sold or crushed at any moment without warning.

Getting real close to just being done with this shit.

i will be right over

Bring a buttload of cash, Stewie.

I will gladly pay you tuesday  for a daytona clone today   

[Daytona R/T SE]

My Daytona is doing life without the possibilty of parole in body shop prison.

The rest of the herd could be sold or crushed at any moment without warning.

Getting real close to just being done with this shit.

i will be right over

Bring a buttload of cash, Stewie.

I will gladly pay you tuesday  for a daytona clone today    

You gotta take it all,

Sweetheart

[moparstuart]

oh ok I'm writing out the check right now

[Daytona R/T SE]

oh ok I'm writing out the check right now

Check ? 

What am I gonna do with a check ? 

Cash, baby !  

And, my Imperial goes straight to the crusher.

[myk]

How do I manage?  I don't.  Car projects are never truly "finished," but none of my cars have nothing other than maintenance done to them because I don't make Leno money.  The Charger however is getting a lot of attention because if there's one car that deserves it, it's THAT one...

[Cooter]

That further enhances our point, you do this full time and you have 3 on the go. Granted you have customers cars that probably consume most of your time. What would you do if you were the average Joe who works an average 9-5 job ?

Um, I don't restore cars for a living. I AM the average "joe" that works his 7:00-5:30 Job turning wrenches. THEN, I push these pieces of sh*t into my bay and work another 3-5 hours at night, get up the next day and do it all over again. You want it bad enough, you'll do what it takes. You want it like most in the hobby, you'll throw up your hands and "Buy it now".

[Troy]

Do the opposite of me and you'll be all right! I currently have five "classics" and a 4x4 toy. A while back I had 11 cars overall and realized it was just too much to manage. I've never had more than two of my toys in drivable condition.

I end up rotating time/money/effort between them. When I buy a part for one car I realize that I also need it for something else so I end up buying 3-4 of everything - but not enough to completely finish any one car. When all the cars are projects it's not too hard to plan some work for one then move to another that needs similar work (ie welding or priming). Budgeting is slightly easier too - as long as you're doing your own work instead of paying someone else by the hour. However, once a car gets on the road, it tends to break or need maintenance which tends to throw a wrench into the budget and schedule for the projects. More drivable cars just makes things worse.

I make decent money and have a fair amount of free time (more in the winter). If I had a family or a house to take care of I doubt I could make any progress on the cars at all. I will likely sell off a couple more before I'm through. I really don't enjoy working on cars (but I do like the satisfaction of accomplishing something myself). I'd rather drive! I say buy one that's done or mostly done and enjoy it. A single project requires a deep commitment - more than many people can handle. Multiple projects turns you into "that guy" with a barn full of cars that haven't run or been touched in 30 years.

Troy

[Old Moparz]

Do the opposite of me and you'll be all right! I currently have five "classics" and a 4x4 toy. A while back I had 11 cars overall and realized it was just too much to manage. I've never had more than two of my toys in drivable condition.

I end up rotating time/money/effort between them. When I buy a part for one car I realize that I also need it for something else so I end up buying 3-4 of everything - but not enough to completely finish any one car. When all the cars are projects it's not too hard to plan some work for one then move to another that needs similar work (ie welding or priming). Budgeting is slightly easier too - as long as you're doing your own work instead of paying someone else by the hour. However, once a car gets on the road, it tends to break or need maintenance which tends to throw a wrench into the budget and schedule for the projects. More drivable cars just makes things worse.

I make decent money and have a fair amount of free time (more in the winter). If I had a family or a house to take care of I doubt I could make any progress on the cars at all. I will likely sell off a couple more before I'm through. I really don't enjoy working on cars (but I do like the satisfaction of accomplishing something myself). I'd rather drive! I say buy one that's done or mostly done and enjoy it. A single project requires a deep commitment - more than many people can handle. Multiple projects turns you into "that guy" with a barn full of cars that haven't run or been touched in 30 years.

Troy

It hasn't been 30 for me.



Yet.   

[moparstuart]

oh ok I'm writing out the check right now

Check ? 

What am I gonna do with a check ? 

Cash, baby !  

And, my Imperial goes straight to the crusher.

paul has first dib on the imperial before crushing it

[Daytona R/T SE]

oh ok I'm writing out the check right now

Check ? 

What am I gonna do with a check ? 

Cash, baby !  

And, my Imperial goes straight to the crusher.

paul has first dib on the imperial before crushing it

Nope.

Straight to the crusher.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Multiple projects turns you into "that guy" with a barn full of cars that haven't run or been touched in 30 years.[/size]

Troy

It hasn't been 30 for me.



Yet.   

Concurrently no...     consecutively probably.  

[moparstuart]

oh ok I'm writing out the check right now

Check ? 

What am I gonna do with a check ? 

Cash, baby !  

And, my Imperial goes straight to the crusher.

paul has first dib on the imperial before crushing it

Nope.

Straight to the crusher.

meanie

[Back N Black]

So, you guys with 5 plus projects, what do you see in the future? a garage with 5 completely restored cars or is it just hoop dreams. Do you give yourself a time limit?

[Troy]

I have one "resto-mod" almost ready for paint, one "semi-restored driver" going into primer, and one "complete restoration" not started yet. Once one is finished I will likely sell one of my current drivable cars since I only bought it because I didn't have anything else to drive. My other current drivable car will come apart for a full restoration once space is available. I have convinced myself that three finished cars is a fine number so something else will get sold at some point. It's hard to sell a project but much easier to lose money by selling a freshly finished car - not to mention all the additional time/energy/frustration that goes into completing one. I had almost all my cars for sale at one point and got fed up with people (which comes easy for me) so I pulled them off the market. If I don't sell I'll just keep them for however long it takes to finish or until I get completely burned out.

Troy

[Daytona R/T SE]

So, you guys with 5 plus projects, what do you see in the future? a garage with 5 completely restored cars or is it just hoop dreams. Do you give yourself a time limit?

I've chosen my three "keepers".

The rest of them are leaving.

I'll salvage or swap some parts between the cars keeping the

Best stuff for the "keepers"

The rest will either get sold, or stripped and crushed.

[Magnumcharger]

This is a difficult question to answer!!
How do I manage to have four project vehicles on the go all at once?

Its a juggling act - plain and simple!
In reality, it's just two working projects: the Deora replica and my Charger R/T. And what I've been doing on these two cars is basically devote myself to the process of stockpiling parts - then work on one until I run out of required parts to push forward. Whereupon the other project gets moved front and center.
The Charger has new rocker panels, inner front fenders and a 26" rad support to be installed, so that's my priority.
The Deora has a buttload of new sheet metal to install, so that'll come afterwards.

I recently scored a truckload of NOS metal for my '68 Barracuda, but I really don't want to get started on it until the metalwork is finished on the Charger. My 1979 Chrysler 300 needs a few parts to bring it back up to snuff, and I'm actively searching for what it needs.

I enjoy searching and aquiring parts, and having a diverse group of cars to restore makes looking for parts and networking a full-time hobby!

[Cooter]

So, you guys with 5 plus projects, what do you see in the future? a garage with 5 completely restored cars or is it just hoop dreams. Do you give yourself a time limit?

I NEVER put a "time limit" on anything.. All that does is set you up for disappointment. I simply work on 'em until they are Looking good enough to grab a few thumbs ups, and Then drive the sh*t out of 'em. it just takes time and there's nothing like the fury of a patient man.

[Bobs69]

So, you guys with 5 plus projects, what do you see in the future? a garage with 5 completely restored cars or is it just hoop dreams. Do you give yourself a time limit?

I NEVER put a "time limit" on anything.. All that does is set you up for disappointment. I simply work on 'em until they are Looking good enough to grab a few thumbs ups, and Then drive the sh*t out of 'em. it just takes time and there's nothing like the fury of a patient man.

There's nothing like the fury of a patient man!

I like that.  I'll have to let that thought marinate to get the full meaning of it.

[carsnguitars]

So, you guys with 5 plus projects, what do you see in the future? a garage with 5 completely restored cars or is it just hoop dreams. Do you give yourself a time limit?

Got one for each of my kids and goal was to get them all drivable first keep it fun for the kids, then we just pick tasks and work on them.
The fun is in the journey. I get to do this with each kid, and they learn, appriciate the car and have quality time with dad.

As for when your done, are we ever truly done with these cars! I will leave em to my kids and hope they enjoy them for a long time and hand em down! till we run outta gas or its 20 bucks a gallon.